Turkey challenged Greece’s sovereignty rights in the Aegean Sea on Saturday morning harassing an Italian ship in the sea area between the island of Karpathos and Rhodes.

The Turkish frigate Bodrum sailed close to the Italian research vessel Odin Finder, which was conducting research for cable laying in the sea area between Karpathos and Rhodes islands claiming that the research was conducting in a Turkish area.

Greece responded to the Turkish challenge by sending the frigate Spetsai, which sailed to the region and asked the Turkish frigate to leave the area.

The Turkish frigate stopped harassing the Italian ship, but until 16:30 pm it did not leave and remained in the area close to Odin Finder. The Greek frigate Spetsai accompanies the Italian ship.